United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Michael Williams, voiced on Tuesday his concern over the July 26 attack against French soldiers in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, revealing that it “generated very considerable concern in France and all the troop contributing countries.”

He said after holding talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati: “It is imperative that the Lebanese government take concrete and firm action on this.”

France on Monday said it had given Libyan rebels 259 million dollars (181 million euros) in frozen funds that used to belong to the regime of strongman leader Moammar Gadhafi.

"The NTC (National Transitional Council) will now be able to use these funds for purchases of a humanitarian nature," the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

HSBC will slash up to 30,000 jobs worldwide over the next two years as part of a major cost-cutting drive, the global banking giant said on Monday, as it posted bumper profits.

"There will be further job cuts," HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver told journalists on a conference call after the group published its interim results.

As reports of a brutal military crackdown on the flashpoint protest city of Hama unfurled on Sunday, Britain, Germany, France and Italy condemned the violence while a U.S. diplomat said it was "full-on warfare."

Syrian forces killed nearly 140 people on Sunday including 100 when the army stormed Hama to crush dissent on the eve of Ramadan, activists said.

European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet has a chance this week to weigh in at length on the latest Greek rescue.

Trichet is sure to face questions on the landmark second bailout of Greece in the press conference that will follow the ECB policy-setting meeting that should see interest rates stay on hold.

Fortune shone on England at the 2014 World Cup draw on Saturday as defending champions Spain and 1998 winners France were locked on a collision course in the race for the Brazil finals.

England, one of the top seeds, were drawn with Euro 2012 rivals Montenegro, Ukraine, Poland and makeweights Moldova and San Marino in Group H.

France will retaliate “firmly” with any new attack against the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, French sources told the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published on Sunday.

“France is very upset with the recent attack against the international troops,” they added.

President Michel Suleiman is waiting for the return of opposition leader and former Premier Saad Hariri from France to discuss with him his invitation for all-party talks at Baabda palace, presidential sources told al-Joumhouria daily Saturday.

The sources said that Suleiman’s only “obsession” is to gather the bickering politicians at the dialogue table to consolidate the country against the “regional storm blowing on Lebanon.”

Israeli defense officials have said that the latest attack on UNIFIL stems from Hizbullah's fear that the U.N. peacekeeping force will seek greater freedom to search Lebanese villages for weapons without a previous coordination with the Lebanese army.

The bombing of the UNIFIL convoy near the southern port city of Sidon on Tuesday was likely aimed at sending a message to the peacekeepers to scale back their operations against Hizbullah, The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli defense officials as saying.

Investigators probing the roadside bombing that targeted a U.N. convoy on Tuesday have said that the bomb weighed around 6 kilograms and was detonated through an electric wire.

Security sources told Beirut dailies that the 6-kilogram TNT was hidden under dirt on the side of the road near the southern port city of Sidon when it was detonated, injuring six French peacekeepers.